This Finland town is home to Santa Claus

Elves sorting letters, sunbathing reindeer, and a queue to meet the city’s most popular resident — this is Santa’s busiest time of the year. We visit Santa Claus Village in Lapland to meet the man of the moment

Santa Claus is undoubtedly a very busy man. About 5,00,000 visitors from across the world visit the small town of Rovaniemi every year, many just to see him. So when a group of us — journalists and influencers from India — get an appointment with Father Christmas, we dress in appropriate shades of red then headed to the Santa Claus Village in Finland. (It received the status of the official home of Santa Claus in 2010.)

We arrive an hour before our appointment. Bright red boards greeted us at the entrance, pointing to the attractions of the village: a year-round office of Santa Claus, a restaurant, shopping areas, a husky park, and snowmobile trails in winter. The structures, made of stone and wood, have pointed roofs. Santa’s original home is known only to a few apparently, but his office is no secret: it is nestled in the woods of Lapland, the northernmost region of Finland, on the edge of the Arctic Line.

This year, Rovaniemi is celebrating the post-pandemic tourism boom. The grand opening of the Christmas season began on November 19 at the central square of Santa Claus Village. As part of the festivities, the Mayor of Rovaniemi presented the annual UNICEF donation made by the city of Rovaniemi to UNICEF Finland. The traditional opening culminated in Santa’s arrival and speech.

Standing there, in the northern-most region of Earth, the village is joyously festive — a spectacle with mounds of snow, decked up trees, and yellow lights adding warmth in the bitter cold.

First, we visit the post office. Unlike the drab, functional ones back home, this one is filled with postcards; colourful candles; stuffed toys of Santa Claus and owls; and magnets showcasing reindeer and the northern lights. A Christmas tree stands in the corner near a fireplace, with red and white sacks of gifts at its foot.

At the entrance, we learn that this is no ordinary post office. Two tall post boxes stand near the door: one marked ‘normal mail’ and the other, wearing a Christmas cap, marked ‘Christmas mail’.

Many of the workers at the post office are Santa’s ‘elves’. Katja, an elf who has been working at the post office for 15 years, beames at me from behind the counter. She and her elf friends patiently sift through the half-a-million letters that Santa Claus receives every year: He receives at least one letter every day.